Making Mexican at home

[rancho_gordo]

Mexican cookbooks: I have Bayless' Mexican Kitchen, Kennedy's The Art of Mexican Cooking, Ortiz' The Complete Book of Mexican Cooking (1967), Fany Gerson, My Sweet Mexico and a bunch of non-descript books from my 'non-cooking' days.

I would like to buy one more Mexican cookbook. There are so many out there, and I am still a novice cook. Suggestions please.

Despite the stupid name, I LOVE Frida's Fiestas. The recipes are a little vague but everything I've made from it has been a winner. And the stories are great too. It was a time after the revolution when Mexico was defining itself and art was in the air. In Mexico it was published with the slightly better title of Las Fiestas de Frida y Diego.

[Darienne]

Despite the stupid name, I LOVE Frida's Fiestas. The recipes are a little vague but everything I've made from it has been a winner. And the stories are great too. It was a time after the revolution when Mexico was defining itself and art was in the air. In Mexico it was published with the slightly better title of Las Fiestas de Frida y Diego.

I don't think that the authors often get the last word on the title of a book.

I love a cookbook with stories in it. I'll look it up. Thanks, rg.

[Jaymes]

Despite the stupid name, I LOVE Frida's Fiestas. The recipes are a little vague but everything I've made from it has been a winner. And the stories are great too. It was a time after the revolution when Mexico was defining itself and art was in the air. In Mexico it was published with the slightly better title of Las Fiestas de Frida y Diego.

I don't think that the authors often get the last word on the title of a book.

I love a cookbook with stories in it. I'll look it up. Thanks, rg.

I, too, love this book. But then I adore everything about Frida and Diego, and am crazy about the movie, so I may be a little prejudiced in its favor.

I particularly love giving fabulous dinner parties wherein I screen the movie, and then I serve the very most magical dishes featured in it while wearing a beautiful outfit evocative of Frida and that era.

Actually, I haven't really done that yet.

But I think I would particularly love it.

_____________

Edited February 20, 2011 by Jaymes (log)

[janeer]

Despite the stupid name, I LOVE Frida's Fiestas. The recipes are a little vague but everything I've made from it has been a winner. And the stories are great too. It was a time after the revolution when Mexico was defining itself and art was in the air. In Mexico it was published with the slightly better title of Las Fiestas de Frida y Diego.

I don't think that the authors often get the last word on the title of a book.

I love a cookbook with stories in it. I'll look it up. Thanks, rg.

I, too, love this book. But then I adore everything about Frida and Diego, and am crazy about the movie, so I may be a little prejudiced in its favor.

I particularly love giving fabulous dinner parties wherein I screen the movie, and then I serve the very most magical dishes featured in it while wearing a beautiful outfit evocative of Frida and that era.

Actually, I haven't really done that yet.

But I think I would particularly love it.

_____________

Me too. And the photos are...just gorgeous.

[Chris Hennes]

You people are bad for my budget. eG-friendly link to Frida's Fiestas.

[David Santucci]

I too love Frida's Fiestas. I also like A Cook's Tour of Mexico. I don't know how much is repeated in The Art of Mexican Cooking, but I find Diana Kennedy's original The Cuisines of Mexico and Mexican Regional Cooking indispensable.

[Darienne]

You people are bad for my budget. eG-friendly link to Frida's Fiestas.

Hi Chris, I live in Canada and would get the book from Amazon.ca, the Canadian website. To buy it from the American website would be quite a lot more expensive because of postage and handling. Sorry.

[Darienne]

I too love Frida's Fiestas. I also like A Cook's Tour of Mexico. I don't know how much is repeated in The Art of Mexican Cooking, but I find Diana Kennedy's original The Cuisines of Mexico and Mexican Regional Cooking indispensable.

They all look good, David. Hmmmm.....

[kalypso]

Another vote for Frida's Feasts. I'd add for consideration

Mexican Family Cooking by Aida Gabilondo

Cuisine of the Water Gods by Patricia Quintana

Mexico: The Beautiful by Suzana Plazuelos and Marilyn Tausend (probably one of the more surprising coffee table cookbooks, beautiful photography and solid recipes)

Seasons of My Heart by Susanna Trilling (I've never had a recipe fail out of this cookbook, including her mole recipes)

Salsas That Cook by Rick Bayless (8 essential salsa recipes, scaled for different yields, with chile substitution suggesetions, follwed by 50 recipes in which to use the salsas. Surprisingly useful slim, little cookbook)

[andiesenji]

I too love Frida's Fiestas. I also like A Cook's Tour of Mexico. I don't know how much is repeated in The Art of Mexican Cooking, but I find Diana Kennedy's original The Cuisines of Mexico and Mexican Regional Cooking indispensable.

These are two of my favorites also, especially the Diana Kennedy book.

However, I think my most favorite is a little paperback that is almost forty years old: Good Food from Mexico by Ruth Watt Mulvey and Luisa Maria Alvarez.

My copy is tattered and stained with the covers taped and some of the loose pages taped into place.

In recent years I have had the advantage of a neighbor from Mexico who is a marvelous cook - and her sister, who visits two or three times a year, is a molera from San Juan del Rio.

She has invited me to visit during the Mole & Tortilla Fiesta but I don't like to fly and it is a very long drive.

This involves watching and taking notes and a certain amount of sign language because my Spanish is rudimentary and while the ladies speak excellent English, there are some terms that are difficult to translate.

(I purchased the Spanish Rosetta Stone program and have been using it from time to time and a few things are beginning to stick.)

Edited February 20, 2011 by andiesenji (log)

[Doodad]

Can anyone help with me with an authentic marinade for arrachera? I try to duplicate what some guys I was working with one time could do and fail every time. There is something missing. I know citrus, onions, chile, but theirs had a savory element that I can't replicate. I could taste the citrus, cilantro....and something else. Almost umami in amping the beef flavor. They were from Mexico City if that helps.

[andiesenji]

Have you tried adding toasted cumin? That is, toasting cumin seeds before grinding.

I have a marinade for goat that specifies toasted cumin and coriander seeds as the most important spices in the mix.

Edited February 20, 2011 by andiesenji (log)

[Darienne]

In recent years I have had the advantage of a neighbor from Mexico who is a marvelous cook - and her sister, who visits two or three times a year, is a molera from San Juan del Rio.

She has invited me to visit during the Mole & Tortilla Fiesta but I don't like to fly and it is a very long drive.

I assume that 'molera' is someone who makes mole?

[andiesenji]

In recent years I have had the advantage of a neighbor from Mexico who is a marvelous cook - and her sister, who visits two or three times a year, is a molera from San Juan del Rio.

She has invited me to visit during the Mole & Tortilla Fiesta but I don't like to fly and it is a very long drive.

I assume that 'molera' is someone who makes mole?

It is a woman who makes moles, a man would be a molero.

She makes many types, I forget how many but more than two dozen varieties. She has a little shop in the city and also one in a suburb of Mexico City that is managed by one of her daughters.

[Doodad]

Have you tried adding toasted cumin? That is, toasting cumin seeds before grinding.

I have a marinade for goat that specifies toasted cumin and coriander seeds as the most important spices in the mix.

Yeah cumin as a go to in Mexican cuisine for me. No on coriander. I have some so that is no problem. I will give it a go and see.

[kalypso]

This involves watching and taking notes and a certain amount of sign language because my Spanish is rudimentary and while the ladies speak excellent English, there are some terms that are difficult to translate.

(I purchased the Spanish Rosetta Stone program and have been using it from time to time and a few things are beginning to stick.)

What a marvelous opportunity to learn. Being able to observe these ladies in action and find out how and why they're doing things a particular was is really wonderful. Hang in there with the Spanish, I think you'll be able to pick up enough to figure things out

[Darienne]

Thanks for all the suggestions for Mexican cookbooks. Now I REALLY have a problem.

[Jaymes]

Thanks for all the suggestions for Mexican cookbooks. Now I REALLY have a problem.

Find a good used-book source. At a couple bucks a copy, you can have them all!

[Darienne]

Thanks for all the suggestions for Mexican cookbooks. Now I REALLY have a problem.

Find a good used-book source. At a couple bucks a copy, you can have them all!

Thanks for the thought Jaymes, but I live in the far frozen north, and we don't really 'do' much Mexican here, thus no second hand cookbooks.

DH and I visited the latest Mexican restaurant to open in our nearby city and talked to the owner. He's quite discouraged. Business is nowhere and he can't use pork at all. Only beef and chicken. And not much more sells than burritos. I wonder who told him Peterborough was a good place to open a Mexican spot. One closed only last year or so.

[Darienne]

Back to Caldo de Pollo, please.

ElseD informed me that this is available in her Mexican market, and the Tajin also. I forgot to ask her about the contents of the Caldo de Pollo.

How does it differ from Knorr's plain old powdered chicken stock? I have lots of frozen chicken stock(alas, Morgan is in trouble again. Should I just add something to it?

[andiesenji]

Thanks for all the suggestions for Mexican cookbooks. Now I REALLY have a problem.

Find a good used-book source. At a couple bucks a copy, you can have them all!

Thanks for the thought Jaymes, but I live in the far frozen north, and we don't really 'do' much Mexican here, thus no second hand cookbooks.

DH and I visited the latest Mexican restaurant to open in our nearby city and talked to the owner. He's quite discouraged. Business is nowhere and he can't use pork at all. Only beef and chicken. And not much more sells than burritos. I wonder who told him Peterborough was a good place to open a Mexican spot. One closed only last year or so.

Try ABE Books

Use this advanced search page and select the country, title or author

and put amounts in the min to max windows so you won't have to look at those out of your price range.

Don't select any of the "refinements" .

I have been buying via ABE since the service came on line and have yet to be disappointed.

This service allows small local book shops to sell everywhere (and to stay in business)!

I like supporting the smaller book shops, some are thrift shops, Goodwill and Salvation Army.

[Darienne]

Try ABE Books

I have been buying via ABE since the service came on line and have yet to be disappointed.

This service allows small local book shops to sell everywhere (and to stay in business)!

I like supporting the smaller book shops, some are thrift shops, Goodwill and Salvation Army.

Unfortunately their shipping rates to Canada are much higher than Amazon.com (or Amazon.ca) and their time line is much longer. They do have a Canadian arm, and I might try further again. Thanks for the suggestion. Might use them the next time we are in Utah for a while.

[Jaymes]

Back to Caldo de Pollo, please.

ElseD informed me that this is available in her Mexican market, and the Tajin also. I forgot to ask her about the contents of the Caldo de Pollo.

How does it differ from Knorr's plain old powdered chicken stock? I have lots of frozen chicken stock(alas, Morgan is in trouble again. Should I just add something to it?

As Steve says, and as is no secret, homemade stock is always better. On the ingredient list for the Caldo de Pollo are the always inscrutable "natural flavorings" but also the more common and obvious salt and parsley. Other ingredients that I don't routinely put in my chicken broth, are a bit of sugar, a little beef fat, some citric acid, and annatto.

Since you are a person that usually has plenty of homemade stock on hand, I'd suggest you go buy a small jar of the Caldo, make a cup, and compare it side by side with yours. Could be that a pinch of sugar, a tablespoon of beef tallow, a squeeze of lime, and a smidge of annatto would be all you'd need to add to get that South of the Border gusto!

[Jaymes]

Try ABE Books

I have been buying via ABE since the service came on line and have yet to be disappointed.

This service allows small local book shops to sell everywhere (and to stay in business)!

I like supporting the smaller book shops, some are thrift shops, Goodwill and Salvation Army.

Unfortunately their shipping rates to Canada are much higher than Amazon.com (or Amazon.ca) and their time line is much longer. They do have a Canadian arm, and I might try further again. Thanks for the suggestion. Might use them the next time we are in Utah for a while.

Do you have a friend or relative that lives in the US? You could just start ordering from a place like Amazon, send them to the friend or relative, and have them hold the books until your next visit south. Sending things "book rate" within the US is the last true postal bargain. Frankly, I'd be willing to do that for you. I'll hold them here, and next time you come to the US, I'll ship them your way.

[Darienne]

I can do beef tallow and annatto and lime. I'll get some of the Mexican Caldo and go from there.

Thanks so much for the offer. I do have friends in Utah and could go that route. Also we are there long enough at a time for me to order stuff if I get right at it. But thanks again.